Eric Jacobson has a problem, which he thoughtfully relates on his thoughtful blog in a post called “How Can I Tell Users What Testers Did?”. In this post, I’ll try to answer his question, so you might want to read his original post for context. I see something interesting here: Eric tells a clear story to relate to his readers some problem that he’s having with explaining his work to … Read more
In a recent blog post, Rahul Verma suggests that all testing is confirmatory. First, I applaud his writing of an exploratory essay. I also welcome and appreciate critique of the testing vs. checking idea. I don’t agree with his conclusions, but maybe in the long run we can work something out. In mythology, there was a fellow called Procrustes, an ironmonger. He had a iron bed which he claimed fit … Read more
This is a followup to an earlier post, Questions from Listeners (2): Is Unit Testing Automated? The original question was Unit testing is automated. When functional, integration, and system test cannot be automated, how to handle regression testing without exploding the manual test with each iteration? Now I’ll deal with the second part of the question. Part One: What Do We Really Mean By “Automation”? Some people believe that “automation” … Read more
Gojko Adzic recently wrote a blog post called Let’s Change the Tune on some of our approaches in agile development. In changing the tune, some of the current words won’t fit so well, so he proposes (for example), “Specifying Collaboratively instead of test first or writing acceptance tests”. I have one more: I think we should change the label “acceptance tests”. “Acceptance tests” are given a central role in agile … Read more
In response to my previous blog post “Another Silly Quantitative Model”, Greg writes: In my current project, the product owner has assumed the risk of any financial losses stemming from bugs in our software. He wants to release the product to customers, but he is of course nervous. How do you propose he should best go about deciding when to release? How should he reason about the risks, short of … Read more
John D. Cook recently issued a blog post, How many errors are left to find?, in which he introduces yet another silly quantitative model for estimating the number of bugs left in a program. The Lincoln Index, as Mr. Cook refers to it here, was used as a model for evaluating typographical errors, and was based on a method for estimating the population of a given species of animal. There … Read more
On April 19, 2010, I was interviewed by Gil Broza. In preparation for that interview, we solicited questions from the listeners, and I promised to answer them either in the interview or in my blog. Here’s the second one. Unit testing is automated. When functional, integration, and system test cannot be automated, how to handle regression testing without exploding the manual test with each iteration? This question provides a great … Read more
Here’s a case where a comment and question were worthy of a post of their own. In reference to my recent post, Testers: Get Out of the Quality Assurance Business, Selim Mia writes: Hi Michael, I have started following your blog just from past few days and I like to thank you for all of your thoughtful posts by which reflects your craftsmanship. Thank you for reading, and thank you … Read more
Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language — so the argument runs — must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like … Read more
In a recent blog post, James Bach discusses the essence of heuristics. A heuristic is a fallible method for solving a problem or making a decision. When used as an adjective, “heuristic” means fallible and conducive to learning. James ends the post by introducing a number of questions in order to test whether someone is teaching you a heuristic effectively. Meeta Prakash, in the comments, remarks “Your questions sound so … Read more